Bradford City 1

MK Dons 4

Rumour has it that Ellen MacArthur stepped on to the quay and asked: Have City won at home yet?

You can sail round the world and back safe in the knowledge that some things won't have changed back in Blighty. The dreadful record at Valley Parade being one of them.

It is now 109 days since City last won at home - time enough for yachtswoman MacArthur to be halfway through a second lap across the globe if she wanted.

She may be back on dry land but Colin Todd's Bantams were left all at sea against a side that were meant to be the worst travellers in the division.

Nine straight away defeats and no goals in the last four suggested the resistance from MK Dons would be minimal.

Then again, a glance down at the teams around the foot of the table shows that none of the bottom six who have visited Valley Parade have gone home empty-handed.

And the Dons do love playing here.

In their previous incarnation as Wimbledon, they rattled up 11 goals from the last three trips to West Yorkshire. So last night's four-goal salvo was par for the course.

The 79 loyal away fans certainly made the most of it and often outsung the silent majority in City's smallest home crowd for ten years.

Up until a spirited five-minute burst to start the second half, the biggest noise from the home fans was the mass chorus of booing which accompanied the players to the sanctuary of the dressing room at the interval.

"Park Avenue could beat this lot" was one of the louder - and politer - shouts from a disgruntled punter who could not quite believe what he was seeing.

City's pre-match hopes were high of making it seventh time lucky and finally killing off that home hoodoo.

And they began briskly with Nicky Summerbee, the serial provider, slipping a couple of inviting balls into the box. Owen Morrison wanted a touch too many with the first one then Cameroon centre half Michel Pensee-Bilong whacked the other clear from inside the six-yard area.

The Dons were happy to wedge men behind the ball and look to hit back on the counter, taking nearly half an hour for their first shot in anger.

But City had also created little from plenty of possession with keeper Matt Baker, standing in for England under-19 stopper David Martin, untroubled by two wide efforts from Dean Windass and Craig Armstrong.

Izale McLeod turned and fired over Paul Henderson's bar before the Dons suddenly broke the deadlock after 32 minutes with a finish of sheer quality.

Wade Small, a thorn in City's side in previous encounters, collected the ball on the right touchline just over halfway. There looked little threat until he cut inside and then motored into space before rifling a 25-yarder past the diving keeper and into the far corner.

City had a chance to hit back before half-time with a three-on-three break but Summerbee's pass to Windass took him a fraction too wide. And by the time he had checked back on to his left foot, Windass found himself crowded out.

Worse was to follow a minute before the break. Lewis Emanuel's weak clearing header put the defence under pressure, Clive Platt was too strong for Mark Bower and Izale McLeod turnly sharply away from David Wetherall before lashing in number two.

The midfield, minus the energy of Steve Schumacher, were plodding. The back four, who have looked so solid this season, were twitchy and uncertain.

Even the defensive cornerstones Bower and Wetherall were caught up in the general malaise as City trooped off to a backdrop of abuse.

Colin Todd gave the same players another chance to extricate themselves from the mess they had made.

And for five minutes it threatened to pay off.

City thought they had pegged one back within a minute as Morrison's corner was back-headed by Bower against the underside of the bar and down. He thought it had crossed the line and so did the trigger finger on the tannoy as the celebration music started.

But referee Scott Mathieson thought otherwise and allowed the Dons to play on.

Windass jabbed a header wide from another Summerbee centre.

The pressure paid off in the 50th minute when Windass won a free-kick by the corner flag. Wetherall met it with a goal-bound header from which Windass claimed goal number 18 with a deflection in front of the line.

But no sooner were City back in the match, they threw it away.

Ben Harding seemed to have little interest in shooting when he received a throw-in 30 yards from goal. But with Craig Armstrong slow to close him down, the Dons midfielder decided to try his luck - and hit the jackpot as Henderson was beaten by the bounce.

The error was totally out of character from the Aussie keeper, who has been the find of the season. But sadly it was in keeping with the all-round abject display from the home side.

The third goal completely knocked the stuffing out of the Bantams. The comeback, which only moments earlier had been very much on, now seemed further away than ever.

And within a minute the scoreline became even more embarrassing as the Dons netted number four.

Dean Lewington's long ball was met by McLeod who flicked it past Wetherall before out-muscling Bower in the penalty box to slide home his second.

The boos returned while some City fans had clearly seen more than enough and headed for an early exit. With half an hour still to go, the contest was over.

City could complain about their luck as Windass smashed the post from a tight angle just after Ben Chorley and Pensee-Bilong had nearly run the ball into their own net.

But the heads had gone down.

Todd made a treble substitution and the angry fans gave both barrels to the three going off the pitch. And almost immediately, the replacements had all combined for a breezy move which saw Baker just nick the ball away from Danny Forrest's toes.

But it was too late to make any impression. City's hopes of a recovery had been extinguished - now the fear must be that the play-off aims could be heading the same way.